Christmas is coming…as much as we hate to admit it. The fake joy and forced laughers are just around the corner.

Do not worry!

We have our own way of coping with all of this.

The last few Christmases have seen the Krampus making his presence felt far beyond his snowy Alpine homelands. For the benefit of the uninitiated, the Krampus is a hairy, horned devil who carries a sack and a switch. He accompanies Saint Nicholas on his Yuletide rounds in early December, and while Nicholas gives gifts to good children, Krampus whips the naughty ones, and pops the really bad little boys and girls in his sack to take away.

Every November, our resident horror fanatic Gavin Baddeley makes an annual pilgrimage to Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast to attend the Abertoir Festival. While not the biggest or longest established of the UK’s horror festivals, Gavin assures us that it’s among the best. It features theatre performances, themed club nights, site visits, talks, live music and more. But the backbone of the six day event remains the film screenings, with 26 horror movies shown in 2017, including vintage classics and exclusive premiers of the best forthcoming features. We asked Gavin to pick out a few of the most bizarre, scary and entertaining upcoming horror films he’d seen there, for horror fans to look out for on cinema screens, in the DVD racks, and on streaming services in the coming months…

As the icy touch of Jack Frost begins to make the mornings glisten and the nights draw in fighting with the daylight for time, this is the moment where goth truly comes into its own. Winter not only echoes the gothic ethos in its darker days and longer nights, bleak and seemingly devoid of life – but also in the fact that its desolate beauty is merely a cloak, a time of hibernation for regeneration to occur, the darkness before the light, a time of magic, a time which is sometimes misunderstood and ignored by many.

Alchemy have been settled into their new premises for less than a year, but already various members of staff have whispered of their unnerving experiences and their awareness of inexplicable company, of the sound of footsteps from an empty floor above, in short, of early brushes with possible entities from the past.

‘The definition of the word “Masquerade” is: a party, a dance or other festive gathering of persons wearing masks and other disguises; a costume or disguise worn at such a gathering; façade, pretense; existence under false pretenses. False pretenses? Tell me, what is more falsely than the human nature? They hide behind their fleshy masks every day. They cover their frustrations with a polite smile. They lie so often that they believe in their own stories. A masquerade, false? What nonsense!’

MY EXPERIENCE

I discovered the brand when I was a kid, about 13 or 14. I don’t remember what was the first product I bought but it might have been the Catafalque, a gorgeous necklace with a skull that I had to sell a few years ago because I needed money :(.

A friend recently shared with me a surprisingly beautiful Romanian tradition that takes place in the Maramures region. This tradition gave me inspiration to do a little more research on the subject and to write this article. The tradition or the ritual as some might say was performed in order to save a severely sick child from death.

We proudly present to you the magnificent 2017/2018 Alchemy England catalogue!

The Alchemy original cover art work and story:
‘Rose Arcana’ – A Desiccated petal, fallen from the garland of history! You can read further into this beguiling tale on page 3 of your catalogue.

Warning: Some of the information below is based on facts others are merely fiction…for the time being.

1835. England, the Parliament outlawed bull-baiting and bear-baiting sports in which dogs fought to death against other animals. Gamblers turned their interest to dog fighting, a popular and profitable sport. British dog-fighters created crosses between the English Bulldog and various types of Terriers. This led to the best fighting dogs: Bull Terriers. They had the size, strength, aggression and ferocity to fight to the death.

A few years back everyone was watching movies inspired by us, inspired by our kind. Year 2017 and everyone seems to have forgotten all about it. It was ‘cool’ to be a vampire a few years ago.

Visitors will be pleased to know that we have just finished enabling https for all pages on our Alchemy England website.

Bats, beer and boiling hot weather – on Thursday, July 6, Alchemy England welcomed their trade customers to the third annual Open Day. The event was also the perfect opportunity for everyone to view their stunning new factory in Leicester and check out all the latest designs.

We are excited to launch the brand new Alchemy bag collection!

‘Tell me again, how did you meet this girl?’

‘In the bar, just around the corner.’

I was sitting with my friend in a café during a short coffee break. We both worked in the same office building and met daily for a chat. He always had something new to share. This time he was excited about a new girl he had met. I had my doubts. But then again I have always been suspicious of people. He on the other hand could not stop talking about her.